Can advertising solve everything?
One point I failed to mention about my doctor visit yesterday is that the office has moved.
They didn't go far, just around the corner. And one thing I noticed right-off was a bunch of new advertising, which paid for a flat-panel TV in one corner of the waiting room and a host of helpful pamphlets in the exam room.
When the nurse took blood I squeezed a plastic brain advertising a drug, and the container she brought in with supplies also had ads on it.
So can ads solve everything? At Demo this week a new outfit called Phreesia seemed to be saying, in effect, yes. (The picture above is from their home page.)
The idea is that the office gets a free wireless touchscreem computer to replace the clipboard patients now use to sign-in. The clipboard can collect as much data as you need to get, a detailed patient interview. You can integrate this with your electronic health record system or get a print-out for your paper files.
What's the catch? The catch is advertising, not just pure ads but also "educational content" from "some of the most prominent companies in the health care industry."
To many physicians, no doubt, this will be quite a catch. But is it enough to reject the idea of a free laptop, free wireless network, and labor saving on patient questionnaires?
That's what we're about to find out.[poll id=6]